According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 44.8% percentage points (pp) in March 2022, up from last year’s percentage of 27.1%.
On a monthly performance, Beirut occupancy rate recorded a jump of 22% in March 2022 compared to March 2021, to reach 55.7%. The average room rate has increased by 73% from 888,525 Lebanese pounds in March 2021 to reach 1,537,270 Lebanese pounds in March 2022, equivalent to a drop of 12% in USD; 72.5$ in March 2021 to 64.7$ in March 2022 at the parallel market rate.
As such, RevPAR (Revenue per available room) surged by 185.9% in LBP during the same period; 299,269 Lebanese pounds in March 2021 to 855,698 Lebanese pounds in March 2022, equivalent to a rise of 47.5% in USD from 24.4$ in March 2021 to 36$ in March 2022. The reason it has increased is due to the fact that the increase in hotel occupancy in percentage terms was higher than the decrease in average rate in United States dollars.
On a regional level, the occupancy rates in Dubai overall increased by 22.8% yearly to 80.8%. By the same token, the Average room rate and Room yields both increased by 44.2% and 100.9% to stand at $396.7 and $320.5, respectively by March 2022.
In turn, in KSA, Riyadh’s hotel occupancy rate increased by 26.2% to reach 74.1% by March 2022, and average room rate added 29.7% to $182 by the same period. However, for Makkah city, the Average room rate decreased by 11.8% to $100.
Moreover, in Amman, occupancy rate added 23.1% to reach 40.8% by March 2022, average room rate increased by 32.2% to reach $143.1 per night; moreover room yield grew by 204.8% to $58.4. If this trend continues, we would expect a significant growth in the hospitality industry during the summer season.
Source: EY, BlomInvest